245results about "Thermometer" patented technology

An index of air re-circulation in a data center having one or more racks is determined to identify the level of heated air re-circulation into cooling fluid delivered to the one or more racks. The one or more racks comprise inlets and outlets and are positioned along a cool aisle and a hot aisle. The index is calculated by dividing the enthalpy rise due to infiltration of heated air into the cool aisle and the total enthalpy rise of the heated air from the outlets of the one or more racks.

A large number of properties of nanostructures depend on their size, shape and many other parameters. As the size of a nanostructure decreases, there is a rapid change in many properties. When the nanostructure is completely destroyed, those properties essentially disappear. Systems based on changes in properties of nanostructures due to the destruction of nanostructures are proposed. The systems can be used for monitoring the total exposure to organic, inorganic, organometallic and biological compounds and agents using analytical methods.

An instrument for performing highly accurate PCR employing an assembly, a heated cover and an internal computer. The assembly is made up of a sample block, a number of Peltier thermal electric devices and heat sink, clamped together. The sample block temperature is changed exclusively by the thermoelectric devices controlled by the computer. The sample block is of low thermal mass and is constructed of silver. The Peltier devices are designed to provide fast temperature excursions over a wide range. The heat sink has a perimeter trench to minimize edge losses and is adjacent to a continuously variable fan. A perimeter heater is used to improve the thermal uniformity across the sample block to approximately ±0.2° C. A heated platen pushes down onto the tube caps to apply a minimum acceptable force for seating the tubes into the block, ensuring good thermal contact with the block. The force is applied about the periphery of the tube caps to prevent distortion of the caps during thermal cycling. The platen is heated to provided thermal isolation from ambient conditions and to prevent evaporation from the surface of the sample into the upper portion of the sample tube. A control algorithm manipulates the current supplied to the thermoelectric coolers such that the dynamic thermal performance of the block can be controlled so that pre-defined thermal profiles for the sample temperature can be executed. The sample temperature is calculated instead of measured using a design specific model and equations. The control software includes calibration diagnostics which permit variation in the performance of thermoelectric coolers from instrument to instrument to be compensated for such that all instruments perform identically. The block / heat sink assembly can be changed to another of the same or different design. The assembly carries the necessary information required to characterize its own performance in an on-board memory device, allowing the assembly to be interchangeable among instruments while retaining its precision operating characteristics. The instrument has a graphical user interface. The instrument monitors the thermoelectric devices and warns of changes in resistance that may result in failure.

A method, computer program, and cooking device for detecting boiling of liquids. The invention is implemented with a computer program executed by a processor or other computing device of a cooking unit such as an induction range. The computer program comprises a code segment for receiving an indication of successive temperatures of the vessel and for calculating a slope of a curve representing the successive temperatures versus time; a code segment for detecting boiling of the liquid based on the slope of the curve; and a code segment for providing an output which may be used to indicate the boiling. The computer program may also include a code segment for receiving variables relating to parameters and / or characteristics of the cooking vessel to refine the boiling detection.

A fingerprint-reading system including a sensor on which a finger, whose imprint is to be read, is pressed. The sensor has an active surface of elements sensitive to variations in temperature and integrated heating resistors that create a transient variation in the temperature of the sensitive elements thereby to generate temporary charges in each element when pressed by a finger. The charges are output in synchronism with creation of the transient variations in the temperature of the sensitive elements to provide stable images of the fingerprint which may be motionless. The output of the sensor enables real-time display of the fingerprint images and processing of authentication data. The heating resistor enables the sensor to produce stable images of a fingerprint by producing an internal excitation to offset the tendency of electrical charges, induced by variations of the physical temperature of the finger, from disappearing because the temperature of the finger has reached equilibrium.

The present invention provides a method of determining the boil states of a liquid as measured by an acoustic sensor which measures the acoustic signal generated by the liquid as it is heated. The acoustic signal is smoothed and a first derivative of the acoustic signal is calculated. Also the frequency of the acoustic signal is measured. Derivative inflection points, zero slope points, and acoustic signal frequencies are utilized to determine the pre-simmer, simmer, pre-boil, boil, boil dry, and boil over states of the liquid.

The present invention provides a control system for a bathing unit that comprises a heating module, a temperature sensing entity and a heating module controller. The heating module includes a body that defines a passage through which water can flow, that has an inner surface and an outer surface. The heating module further includes a heating device that is operative for heating the water that flows through the body. The temperature sensing entity is mounted to the outer surface of the body such that the temperature sensing entity is in thermally conductive communication with water flowing through the body. The heating module controller is operative for obtaining temperature information associated with the temperature sensing entity for detecting at least in part on the basis of the temperature information the sufficiency of water flow through the body.

The invention relates to a temperature rise analytical method for predicting temperature of a permanent magnet in a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM), belonging to the application electrical engineering design field; the method is characterized in that: distributed heat source of a motor is analyzed by a filed-circuit compact coupling method, comprising eddy current loss in the permanent magnet, iron loss in an iron core and copper loss in armature; on the consideration of precision requirements, the coupling analysis of a magnetic field and a temperature filed can be realized by single-way coupling mode. A thermal model of the permanent magnet synchronous motor is built based on a mixing method of a novel equivalent heat network and a finite element, heat parameters are rationally selected by adopting a combining mode of experimental measurement and empirical formula, the heat transferring coefficient and cooling condition of the motor are described completely, a stator and a rotor can be systematically combined by adopting air gap joints in the heat network, the stator and rotor unified temperature rise model is formed, the difficulty of measuring air gap temperature is avoided, material parameters are adopted at the practical working temperature, so as to lead the analysis to be rational; the accurate and optical method for predicting the temperature of the permanent magnet is realized by special correction processing in experimental links; in addition, the design method is used to give suggestions for model selection of the permanent magnet material in the motor.

A device and method for monitoring the expiration of goods includes a substrate, a coating of polydiacetylene, said coating having properties of (1) changing from a first color irreversibly to a second color immediately upon being subjected to a specified temperature and (2), upon activation upon contact by an activating agent, changing from said first color to said second color at a temperature lower than said specified temperature after a time delay of at least one hour and an activating agent on a portion but not all of said coating.

A device and method for monitoring the expiration of goods includes a substrate, a coating of polydiacetylene, said coating having properties of (1) changing from a first color irreversibly to a second color immediately upon being subjected to a specified temperature and (2), upon activation upon contact by an activating agent, changing from said first color to said second color at a temperature lower than said specified temperature after a time delay of at least one hour and an activating agent on a portion but not all of said coating.

A product shelf life monitoring system comprising an active substituted diacetylenic monomer component indicator composition is responsive to an integral of varying temperature over time to effect a solid state polymerization in the active monomer which results in a visible change in color density or the like at a rate designed to closely approximate the degradation, or shelf life, of an associated foodstuff or medicament product. The reactivity of the monomer component upon which the time-temperature integral of the indicator composition, and thus the represented shelf life, primarily depends may be readily varied by refluxing a solution of the monomer in a selected solvent for a predetermined time prior to recrystallization of the monomer for incorporation into the indicator composition.

A method and apparatus for controlling the electric resistance heating of a metallic chemical preconcentrator screen, for example, used in portable trace explosives detectors. The length of the heating time-period is automatically adjusted to compensate for any changes in the voltage driving the heating current across the screen, for example, due to gradual discharge or aging of a battery. The total deposited energy in the screen is proportional to the integral over time of the square of the voltage drop across the screen. Since the net temperature rise, ΔTs, of the screen, from beginning to end of the heating pulse, is proportional to the total amount of heat energy deposited in the screen during the heating pulse, then this integral can be calculated in real-time and used to terminate the heating current when a pre-set target value has been reached; thereby providing a consistent and reliable screen temperature rise, ΔTs, from pulse-to-pulse.

An electrical device including a heat sensing circuit interrupter to enable a load to be selectively coupled to or disconnected from a power source in accordance with a level of a sensed temperature includes a relay assembly operable between a closed state when the sensed temperature is below a predetermined limit temperature, thereby enabling the coupling of the load to the power source, and an open state when the sensed temperature is above the predetermined limit temperature, thereby electrically disconnecting the load from the power source. The device further includes a sensor assembly including a light source operatively associated with a light sensor. The light sensor is configured to be sensitive to specific levels of the sensed temperature and the light source is configured to emit light along a plurality of optical paths at any one of a plurality of wavelengths sensitive to temperature. The light sensor is further configured to sense temperature at any one of a plurality of operating points on the electrical device and trigger the relay assembly between the closed state and the open state.

A method, computer program, and cooking device for detecting boiling of liquids. The invention is implemented with a computer program executed by a processor or other computing device of a cooking unit such as an induction range. The computer program comprises a code segment for receiving an indication of successive temperatures of the vessel and for calculating a slope of a curve representing the successive temperatures versus time; a code segment for detecting boiling of the liquid based on the slope of the curve; and a code segment for providing an output which may be used to indicate the boiling. The computer program may also include a code segment for receiving variables relating to parameters and / or characteristics of the cooking vessel to refine the boiling detection.

Various techniques are provided for determining thermal resistance values of building materials through the use of infrared cameras. In one example, an infrared camera may be used to capture one or more infrared images of a wall. Using temperatures obtained from the images, a thermal resistance value such as an R-Value associated with the wall may be determined. Potential cost savings associated with adjusting the thermal resistance value may also be determined.

A method and apparatus for performing characterization of devices is presented. The characteristic of the device are determined by obtaining a first temperature measurement in a first location of a device, obtaining a second temperature measurement, computing the difference between the temperature measurements and, using the temperatures and / or the temperature difference, a characteristic of the device is determined.

A system for detecting, at a remote location, a deterioration in an electrical connection, such as an electrical meter socket connection, includes at least one deterioration sensing device that includes an apparatus for detecting, at a remote location, a deterioration in an electrical connection; at least one fixed or portable receiving communication device, each configured to receive temperature information from the at least one deterioration sensing device and to transmit the temperature information via a communication network; and a back end connected to the communication network and configured to receive temperature information from the at least one fixed or portable sensing communication device. Upon exceeding a predetermined condition, the back-end may forward an alarm warning to a utility.

A hand-held thermography system (8). A generator (10) supplies current to a transformer (15) in a handle (16). An induction coil (20) connected to the transformer (15) extends from the handle (16). The induction coil (20) induces eddy currents in a test object (50), producing a thermal topography on a surface (52) of the object (50) that reveals structural features including defects in the object. An infrared camera (24) mounted on the transformer (16) digitizes images of the thermal topography. A controller (12) processes the images, displays them on a monitor (14), and stores them in a digital memory (11) for evaluation. Digitized positional data relating the position of the image to the surface may also be stored. An operator (40) presses a trigger (17), signaling the controller (12) to start current to the induction coil (20) and simultaneously to acquire and process one or more images from the camera (24). The images may be evaluated visually and / or by computerized analysis techniques for analyzing defects in the object.

A method and apparatus for imaging within a sample space an object containing quadrupolar nuclei comprises irradiating the object to excite nuclear quadrupole resonance, applying to the object a magnetic field gradient having a profile Bo(x) such that the square of the profile (Bo(x))2 varies linearly with distance (x), detecting resonance response signals from the nuclei, and deriving an image from the response signals. A method of and apparatus for nuclear quadrupole resonance testing an object, and a method of and apparatus for detecting the presence of a particular substance containing a given species of quadrupolar nucleus, are also disclosed.

Systems and methods are described for transmitting a waveform having a controllable attenuation and propagation velocity. An exemplary method comprises: generating an exponential waveform, the exponential waveform (a) being characterized by the equation Vin=De−A<sub2>SD< / sub2>[x−v<sub2>SD< / sub2>t], where D is a magnitude, Vin is a voltage, t is time, ASD is an attenuation coefficient, and vSD is a propagation velocity; and (b) being truncated at a maximum value. An exemplary apparatus comprises: an exponential waveform generator; an input recorder coupled to an output of the exponential waveform generator; a transmission line under test coupled to the output of the exponential waveform generator; an output recorder coupled to the transmission line under test; an additional transmission line coupled to the transmission line under test; and a termination impedance coupled to the additional transmission line and to a ground.

A system and method for dynamically adjusting expiration dates displayed on consumer products, the system and method utilizing an LCD display for displaying an expiration date and messages, sensors for monitoring environmental conditions, a clock for counting back the expiration date, and a controller for determining messages and adjustments to the displayed expiration date based on monitored environmental conditions.

A catalytic combustion type gas sensor includes a gas sensing unit 10, in which a sensing element having a heater coil embedded in a thermal conduction layer provided with an oxidation catalyst for causing a gas to be sensed to combust by contact, a compensation element having an equivalent heater coil embedded in a thermal conduction layer having no oxidation catalyst, and two resistor elements constitute a Wheatstone bridge circuit, outputs a voltage between the connection point of the sensing element and the compensation element and the connection point of the two resistor elements, as a detection signal, wherein a self-diagnosis unit is provided which diagnoses a sensor abnormality by comparing the slope of changes in voltage of the detection signal relative to changes in the voltage value of the direct-current voltage to be applied across the Wheatstone bridge circuit in an initial state and the slope of changes in voltage of the measurement value of the detection signal relative to changes in the voltage value of the direct-current voltage to be applied in a usage state.

First and second thermal sensors measure the respective temperatures of portions of a surface of a structure such as an aircraft component. An alert signal is emitted if the temperatures of the surface portions are substantially different. An energy source causes heat flow within the structure. Subsurface flaws such as disbonded areas between composite layers and foreign materials obstruct heat flow within the structure and cause proximate surface portions to exhibit different temperatures. A non-alert signal may be emitted if the temperatures of proximate surface portions are essentially the same.

The invention discloses a method for building adaptive soft sensor. The method comprises the following steps. The input and schedule vectors are constructed, and a novel learning algorithm that uses online subtractive clustering is used to recursively update the structure and parameters of a local model network. Three rules are proposed for updating centers and local model coefficients of existing clusters, for generating new clusters and new models as well as for merging existing clusters and their corresponding models. Once verified, the online inferential model can be created to generate the predicted value of process. Thus, it does not need much memory space to process the method and can be easily applied to any other machine.

A system and method for implementing embedded electronics in environments where radiation or extreme temperatures are used is disclosed. Embedded electronics are affixed to various components of a pharmaceutical system, thereby enabling the customer to download pertinent information about the component, such as lot number, date of manufacturer, test parameters, etc. Additionally, these electronics allow an array of functions and features to be implemented, such as integrity tests and diagnostics. The electronics in the pharmaceutical components utilize a technology that is not as susceptible to radiation and extreme temperatures as traditional electronics.

The present invention provides a new approach for processing hyper-spectral radiance data. It uses a transformation matrix to convert an instrument radiance spectrum into a pseudo-monochromatic radiance spectrum. The pseudo-monochromatic radiance spectrum is produced by an empirical transform of the instrument channel spectrum to a monochromatic equivalent spectrum (i.e., a pseudo-monochromatic spectrum). Eigenvector regression is used to produce the empirical transformation. Although the transformation does not produce the monochromatic radiance spectrum without error, the transformation error is generally well below nominal instrument noise levels for most spectral channels. The reduction in instrument noise results from a noise filtering effect of the eigenvector transformation. One of the advantages of the present invention is that it eliminates the need to build different fast radiative transfer models (RTMs) for different observing instruments, since the retrieval of geophysical parameters is based on an inversion of the monochromatic radiative transfer model. Although a different transformation matrix is required for different instrument spectral channel characteristics, the production of this transformation matrix is straightforward and simpler than the production of an accurate channel radiance fast model.

A thermal sensation determining apparatus includes a skin temperature detecting unit configured to detect a skin temperature of a peripheral site of a subject's body, a variation state determining unit configured to determine a variation state of the skin temperature during a first interval to obtain a variation state determination result, a gradient detecting unit configured to detect a gradient of the skin temperature during a second interval to determine the gradient to obtain a gradient detection result, and a thermal sensation determining unit configured to determine the subject's thermal sensation using the variation state determination result and the gradient detection result to obtain a thermal sensation determination result classified into levels ranging from “hot” to “cold” based on a “moderate” temperature.

The present invention includes methods, systems and computer-readable media for more accurately determining wind chill temperature, Twc, equivalent temperature, Teq, time to freeze, tf, facial temperature, Tfm+Δt, as a function of time and the altitude correction factor, Δtf / 1000. The wind chill model of the present invention accounts for the two major heat losses (forced convection, radiation) and a minor heat loss (evaporative cooling) from the facial surface and is also capable of accounting for the two major heat gains (metabolic, solar) at the facial surface due to the individual's physical activity and the presence of sunshine. The wind chill model of the present invention also provides a more accurate value for the wind velocity at head level.

A hot melt adhesive sensing system and methods including detecting (410) multiple areas of a target, for example a hot adhesive material, by sensing changes in temperature with a corresponding number of thermal sensors, summing (420) an output of the thermal sensors, and evaluating (430) the summed output by comparing the summed output with a variable reference, the results of which may be assessed relative to a specified tolerance.

A system and method for sensing and controlling the temperature of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system utilizes an infrared sensor. The infrared sensor is used to detect temperature over several different areas on an evaporator surface on which a cold spot may occur. More preferably, the infrared sensor continuously scans the whole surface on the air outlet side of the evaporator. The sensed temperature is used to detect any cold spots that may dynamically form on the evaporator surface. The system is controlled in response to the detected temperature.